The Heterosocial Assessment Inventory for Women: A psychometric and behavioral evaluation

Abstract

This paper presents a preliminary psychometric and behavioral evaluation of the Heterosocial Assessment Inventory for Women (HAI-W), a novel self-report instrument that evaluates five dimensions that may influence performance in 12 heterosocial situations: likelihood of initiation, anxiety, skillfulness, expectation of outcome, and influence of attractiveness. Study I obtained acceptable reliability and concurrent validity data and described the factor structure of the HAI-W with female college students. Study II found a significant relationship between the HAI-W factors and global ratings of the role-play performances of high- and low-heterosocially competent female college students as rendered by the male confederate, peer judges, and expert judges. The implications of these findings for the multidimensional assessment and facilitation of heterosocial competence are discussed.